[Roxanne]
[Current Character Levels & Equipment] :
[Job] :
Beast Warrior Lv.24
[Equipment] :
Scimitar
Leather Helmet
Leather Jacket
Leather Gloves
Leather shoes
The morning of the next day. I can definitely say that I did not manage to have a good
night's rest, but for all the right reasons. The main culprit behind my sleepless night
was the fact that I have spent it all on enjoying the service offered to me by the two
beauties clad in maid uniforms. The busty and seductive maid was servicing me from
the left, and the petite but eager one was servicing me from the right. I fully enjoyed
the service of the two maids showering me in affection, fully reveling in the fact that I
was living the dream that most guys in the world can only dream of without any
prospects at ever seeing their fantasies come true. That was the best! The ultimately
supreme experience where I got to screw my servants to my heart's content while they
kept on moaning for more as they were doing everything that I told them to.
Afterwards we had a late dinner, which was then followed by me equipping Sex Maniac
as my First Job so that I could enjoy having sex with the two of them even more until
all three of us passed out from exhaustion when we could not lift our bodies and their
lower halves anymore.
I woke up in the morning of the next day at the usual early hours, most likely because
it has become such a routine thing to do that both my body and mind already got used
to it, and because of that, I did not get nearly as much sleep as I should have gotten
myself in order to feel properly rested. And to be honest, right now I am seriously
worried about going to the Labyrinth while being sleep deprived, because the fatigue
that I have accumulated since yesterday was still with me, and even though I wanted
to go in order not to make any unnecessary breaks in the daily farming cycle unless I
really had to, my mind and reason were telling me that even though I might seriously
consider it, it would not be good to enter such a dangerous place as the Labyrinth with
a tired body that would be slower and much less responsive than usual.
Oh, but please, do not misunderstand what I am saying right now. Everything is alright
with my health, it is just that the amount of sleep that I should have gotten for myself
was insufficient, as a result of which I felt incredibly groggy, my body felt heavy and
all of my thinking processes seemed to be dulled, and I was feeling as if I was about to
fall unconscious at any moment now.
I carefully checked on Roxanne and Sherry, but neither of them seemed to be
displaying the same kind of symptoms that I did, which means that they two of them
were probably all right despite everything that we did yesterday.
Now, the reasonable thing to do here would be to not go to the Labyrinth and catch
myself some much needed zzz's so that I would stop feeling like a walking corpse on
the verge of decomposing, but just like I said before on a number of occasions, I feel
that I cannot do things like not going to the Labyrinths just because of some cheap
excuse, because if I do it once, I will probably do it a second time, after a second time
there will be a third one, and the numbers of days where I did not go to the Labyrinths
will continue to pile up so much that ultimately I will stop going there altogether
because of my own laziness and I absolutely do not want that to happen, so even if I
do not really feel like it right now, I decided to go to the Labyrinth for the morning bit
of exploration after all. It is okay. Everything is going to be fine, just as long as I will
remember to pay careful attention to my surroundings and pay even more attention
to the movements of the monsters that are going to be engaging us in battle.
We went to the Labyrinth like normal, and the first enemy we happened upon was an
NT Ant, which I managed to defeat with my tried and true strategy of shooting it in the
face with three shots of "Water Ball". All right, so far, so good. First battle is done and
everything seems to be all right with me, as I did not notice any kind of drops in my
performance just now, so we proceeded to go through Quratar's Labyrinth's ninth
floor until we reached a small room.
"Look master, a treasure chest!"
When we entered that small room, I saw that the ground in its center was slightly
raised. Yeah, this is definitely a treasure chest. It has been quite a while since I last saw
it.
"Wait, wait, wait!"
I know that this is a tempting sight, but we must not be impatient. So as Roxanne was
about to poke the mound of earth with her Scimitar, I rushed towards her and pulled
her back with a panicked movement. Why did she try to do that?! I thought that we
made it clear numerous times that when we see things like that we must not rush
towards them blindly and without thinking, because this might be a cleverly disguised
trap. The only time and circumstances where we are allowed to be rush, reckless and
forceful is in the evenings when we are having sex on the bed!
Could it be that Roxanne is just as severely sleep deprived as I am, and that is what
made her act so carelessly? Maybe our yesterday's activities really left her as
exhausted as I was, and she also could not get enough sleep because of our routine
where we are waking up even before the sunrise so that we could go to the Labyrinths
to farm monsters for their Drop Items before breakfast? If it really is like that, then she
should have just told that to me, and then we definitely would not have come here,
instead taking this opportunity to have ourselves another day of rest that we
apparently both needed quite desperately.
Not to mention that there is a chance that this is not an actual treasure chest, but a
cleverly disguised Mimic, so we should be very careful as we approach it.
I put my Wand away, and pulled out Durandal instead.
"Master, what are you doing?"
"Preparing myself just in case that this chest turns out to be a Mimic. You ready,
Roxanne?"
After giving Sherry a short explanation and taking my battle-ready stance, I gave
Roxanne a small nod, and she nodded back at me. Now, if this supposed treasure chest
tries anything funny, it is going to be so surprised when instead of feasting on the flesh
of an idiot Adventurer who was dumb enough to approach it without any precautions,
it is going to have its teeth shattered to pieces by Durandal's blade.
"Uhm, master? I know that you are always wary and careful when it comes to the
Labyrinths and its traps and monsters, but I think you can rest easy this time, because
I do not think that Mimics are going to be appearing on the lower floors of the
Labyrinths, and even if they were, the chance of running into one on the ninth floor
would be truly miniscule."
"Really? You think so?"
"Yes. There is not that much information available about them, but from what is indeed
known, it does not seem like they appear on the first ten floors of the Labyrinths, most
likely because the lower floors are the place where there is not that many treasure
chests. If I were to hazard a guess as to where they would start making their
appearances, then it would probably be floors from twelfth and above, because that is
the point that separates rookie Adventurers from the experienced ones, which is
mirrored by the appearances of treasure chests being much more frequent from that
point onward, and these are the chests that have a random chance of them not being
a treasure chest, but a Mimic monster. And on top of that, some Adventurers even
reported encountering them in the Floor Boss' Boss Rooms disguised as treasure
chests, so they can not only appear as a regular enemy, but as a substitute of a regular
Floor Boss as well."
So it can also work like that, huh? From my knowledge of video games from my time
back on earth, I happen to possess a vague understanding of how Mimics work.
.
I know that Mimic is a type of monster that possesses the ability to shapeshift its body
into another animate or inanimate object or creature and that this is its main gimmick
that it uses to catch the unsuspecting prey off guard before devouring them when they
least expect it, but I would never have expected that they can also appear in the Boss
Rooms instead of their regular Floor Bossess!
Does that mean that the Floor Boss version of a Mimic is going to be stronger than a
regular one, or is there no distinction between the two and both of them are the same
in terms of their Stats and power? I do not know the answers to those questions and
it seems very unlikely that we are going to get them in the near future, but while
Sherry was explaining all of that to me, Roxanne went and thrusted her Scimitar into
the mound of earth that was hiding the treasure chest. When she did that, the entire
mound was cut open right down the middle...
And what spilled forward out of it was a bunch of silver coins.
"Look master, silver coins!"
"Y-Yeah, those are the silver coins all right."
In total, there were thirteen silver coins, which was the equivalent of thirteen hundred
Nars. It is a relatively small amount of money, but it is nice to have it nonetheless, since
we can always use it to do some minor shopping.
It is a shame that there was not any more of it, but I guess that is as much as we can
possibly expect from the treasure chests on the lower floors, so there is little else to
do right now than to graciously accept what we found and move on.
Inside of the Labyrinths, which are basically living organisms that feed off of
Adventurers, what is commonly referred to as treasure chests are the mounds of earth
that contain either equipment or things from the Item Box of Adventurers who were
unfortunate enough to die from the hands of monsters while they were exploring the
Labyrinth.
And since we got thirteen solver coins from this treasure chest, then I wonder if the
one who was the owner of this money was a Lv.13 Explorer, since the size of the
Explorer's Item Box and the amount of money that they can hold inside of it is entirely
dependent on the Explorer's Level. I received the coins from Roxanne while offering a
silent prayer for the soul of the money's former owner.
"All right, since I already have it out, then I might as well use my sword to fight the
monsters here for a while."
I said to Roxanne and Sherry after we left the small room and continued our
exploration of the ninth floor. Since I have used a fair bit of MP, then I might as well
use Durandal to recover it, seeing as I already have it out and about.
As usual, Roxanne was leading our forward advance, guiding us with her superior
sense of smell. And after a short while, what she guided us to was a chamber where
we happened upon a group of four NT Ants. A group made out entirely of these guys,
huh? Well, this might be slightly problematic, since now the three of us are going to be
facing a group of four monsters who not only have a numbers advantage over us, but
all of them can poison us with their attacks as well.
"Here they come!"
"All, right, let us do this! Here we go!"
First of all, I swung Durandal at the leftmost NT Ant.
I parried its incoming attack and then made my own counterattack swing to counter
its counter. The NT Ant on the left side got defeated easily. With one of the enemies
out of the picture, I moved on to face the NT Ant that Sherry was fighting with.
Taking advantage of the tunnel vision that the enemy had which made it focus its
attention entirely on Sherry and no one else, I sneak my way behind its back and then
attacked it with the element of surprise backing me up.
In the meantime, an orange magic circle lit up beneath the NT Ant that was in the
center. That is a sign that this NT Ant was about to unleash its Skill. In that moment, I
remembered that Sherry told me that the Skill possessed by the NT Ant allows it to
shoot poison over large distances, which makes it quite dangerous, so I quickly turned
around and extended my body and sword-wielding arm towards that NT Ant in the
center and swung Durandal horizontally in order to reach that NT Ant in time with my
attack.
This is definitely a bad position that leaves me wide open and vulnerable to attacks,
but if I want to stop that NT Ant from using its Skill, then this is the risk that I have to
take, whether I like it or not. Thankfully, Durandal's blade manages to reach the
monster's body and come into contact with it just in time for its "Chant Interruption"
Skill to kick into effect, cancelling the NT Ants Skill activation. Haha, too bad for you,
you stupid ant! No spitting poison for you today!
I was feeling relieved and quite satisfied with myself... But then I felt sharp pain in
my right leg. And when I looked down to see what was wrong with it, I noticed that
one of the remaining NT Ants managed to deliver a blow to my right thigh.
Damn it! Which one?! Which one was it?! Looking around in a small panic attack, I
finally noticed it. It was the rightmost NT Ant, one of the two that were now left
behind. Taking advantage of the fact that we were distracted with fighting against its
other two companions, it made its way behind me and attacked in the moment when
I let my guard down, because I never expected that I am going to be sneak attacked by
a monster when I was the one who sneak attacked one of them literally not a minute
before!
But that is not the worst thing about it. The worst thing about it is that I can feel the
impact of that one attack, or rather, its effects that it is having on me now not only in
the place that has been attacked, but throughout my entire goddamn body, and it is
causing me to feel quite a strong shock. What exactly was that attack just now if it
ended up causing me so much pain even with the "Plating" Skill active, which was
supposed to protect me from the enemy attacks!
I do not understand it! Even though the wound itself does not look all that bad, the
pain that I am feeling right now is horrible and unlike anything that I have ever felt
before... of my fucking God, and… And apparently this shit is just keep on spreading!
Khh... ghhh... Uwaaaah!
The shock that I am feeling right now reaches my heart, straining it to the brink and
the limits of its endurance! Yes, it is more of a shock than an actual pain, the shock that
feels as if something was grabbing directly onto my heart and kept on squeezing it
repeatedly in tandem with its increasing heartbeat.
This… This might actually be the worst kind of feeling that I felt ever since I have
arrived in this world. And I really mean it. Nothing else can possibly compare to this:
not the pain of being smacked with the branches of a Needlewood. Not being scared
and confused after finding myself on the receiving end of Green Caterpillar's Web Spit
Skill.
Not the horror of a Kobold grabbing onto his rusty knife with that demonic Smirk on
its oversized head. Not having my finger injured by a Mino's horn when I was a few
seconds too slow to didge its attack properly, and definitely not being splashed to the
face with a Needlewood's "Water Ball" Spell when I discovered that even Needlewoods
will be capable of using magic attacks if only their level is going to be high enough.
Yup, this is like... at least a hundred times worse than all of the above feelings
combined into one, no two ways about it!
" "Master! Are you... What is..." "
Sherry and Roxanne seem to be saying something to me, but to be honest, I cannot
hear them all that well anymore, because my head is getting filled with that dull, highpitched noise that seems to be muffling out every sound that is being registered by my
ears.
This is bad. This is really, really dangerous. I do not know what is happening to me,
but I cannot just stand here and take it like a little bitch!
.
I swing Durandal to my left in an attempt to absorb some HP, hoping that it would
make me feel just a little bit better...
However, even though the hit probably connected, I do not feel like my condition has
improved at all. In fact, I think it might have actually worsened, because I started to
break out in a cold sweat.
Yeah, the shocks are definitely getting bigger and more intense. Why? Why is this
happening to me? I do not understand! Somebody, anybody, please! Help me
understand what is going on with me right now!
I am desperately clutching at my chest as I collapse down onto my knees, hurting them
against the hard, stony floor of the Labyrinth. It is getting harder and harder for me to
endure the pain that I am feeling right now.
Even my head feels like it has been hit by a major earthquake that continued to rumble
inside of it without any intentions of stopping anytime soon.
The trembling and the shivers do not want to stop. They are clinging onto me without
the slightest intentions of letting go of me. I cannot think straight anymore. I am
starting to feel delirious and I probably have a fever, but I am not really sure about
that, because every sensation that I am feeling right now begins to coalesce into a
single mess of signals that my brain is trying to decode all at once and it is utterly
failing at it.
"X X X X X X! X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X! X X X X X X!!!"
Sherry rushes to my side and says something, but I cannot understand what she is
saying anymore.
All my nerves are feeling as if they have been set on fire by that shock. Pain that I am
feeling and how much it hurts: those are the only two things that I am capable of
thinking right about now. I cannot bring myself to think about anyone else, because if
I try to do that it just ends in me feeling even worse than I am already feeling.
For some bizarre reason, Sherry's face is approaching me. Why? Why is she doing that?
As these thoughts bumped into my head, she pressed her lips against mine really
tightly. She extends her tongue moves it into my mouth. Sherry, for the love of fuck,
what the hell are you doing in the middle of the battle? We are in the Labyrinth here,
where there is no time for such displays of affection.
Nevertheless, I accepted her, even though I cannot possibly comprehend the reason
for why would she be doing something like that. I just opened my mouth and allowed
her into my mouth, sucking on her tongue with my own, just like I always do.
Her tongue is soft, slimy and gentle as usual... but then something rolled off of it and
found its way into my mouth. I do not know what that is, but it definitely does not feel
like a part of Sherry's tongue. Or maybe a part of it has fallen of due to the enemy's
attack as well? I do not know, but I do know that whatever that thing is, it is
obstructing my mouth, making it even more difficult for me to breathe than it already
was. I swallowed it to remove this obstacle to my breathing, and then I continued to
be glued to Sherry's mouth.
I twirled my own tongue around Sherry's tongue that keeps on entering and leaving
my mouth over and over again as I twirled, clung, and sucked on it. It tastes so good
that it is making me forget about anything else that is currently happening around me,
even the shock that I was feeling and the impact it was having on my body. In fact, I
feel like all of these unpleasant feelings that I was slowly drowning in are subsiding
right now, because Sherry's kiss is acting like a tranquilizer on me, gradually making
me feel better as the shock continued to decrease little by little.
It feels as if the burden and weight on my whole body have been removed. I do not feel
any pain anymore, the dullness in my limbs disappeared and the heavy clouds and fog
that have been messing with my mind have finally cleared up as well. It feels like my
heart has been released by whatever was grabbing it, and I could not be happier about
it, because that feeling was truly unbearable, and I do not think that I would have been
able to resist it for much longer. The burning in my entire body is gone, the trembling
of my limbs has stopped and I do not feel this overwhelming sense of dread and fear
anymore and my thoughts are back where they belong: firmly in my head.
What the fuck was that? What in the world just happened to me? And what was I doing
just now?
"Master! Are you alright now?! How do you feel?! Master, please, answer me!"
When Sherry finally separated her mouth from mine, she bombarded me with a series
of questions with an extremely worried expression, but thankfully now that this awful
feeling was gone from my body I could hear what she was saying to me clearly.
"Oh… y-yes, I… I feel fine now, I guess. Anyway, what happened to me just now, and
what did you do to make me feel better?"
"I fed you the Anti Poison Medicine with a direct mouth-to-mouth method because
you have been poisoned by the NT Ant's attack and in your current condition there
was no way to give the medicine to you otherwise, because you might have ended up
hurting yourself."
I see. So Sherry did that for me because I was poisoned.
Wait. Poison? Ahh, I see, I get it now. So I was actually poisoned by an attack of that NT
Ant that managed to score a sneak attack on me, and that is what caused me to feel
this awful shock all over my body. Come to think of it, that dreadful sensation definitely
had a "poisonous"feeling to it, because I felt as if something was continuously eroding
on my body, melting and eating through it from the inside. It was both unbelievably
strong and tremendously terrifying, and if I was left without a proper care for just a
little while longer, then I am positive that I would have definitely died, so I feel grateful
to Sherry for her quick thinking and the immediate decision to jump into action as
soon as she saw that something was not right with me... but now is not the time to
be thinking about that! Now that my mind is cleared, I can finally assess my situation
properly, and the conclusion could have been only one: we are still in the middle of
combat, and there are still two NT Ants left to deal with, and when I looked around my
surroundings, I saw that Roxanne was fighting the other two, and she was dodging
their attacks perfectly. Great, this is exactly the opening that I needed!
I quickly got up and attacked the nearest NT Ant with Durandal.
Since it is blindly charging towards Roxanne, I moved in and slashed at it from the side
for maximum effectiveness. My body is still feeling somewhat heavy, but with each
consecutive blow, I feel like the burden on my body is being lifted little by little, so it
would seem that the damage done to me by the poison can be easily recovered with
Durandal's "HP absorption" Skill, so these guys will not be a problem as long as I beat
them with Durandal.
And just like that, the remaining two NT Ants have been annihilated in a matter of two
minutes.
"Master, are you alright?!"
When the battle was over, Roxanne also immediately rushed to me to check up on my
condition since she could not afford to do it while we were still in the middle of the
battle.
"I am all right now, and I am sorry to have caused you to worry, Roxanne. Now, let us
go back to that small room we were in a little while ago."
I do not think there is a anything wrong with me anymore, but just to be on the safe
side I should thoroughly confirm my physical condition, so we picked the Poison
Needles that the defeated NT Ants left behind when they died and return to the small
room where we found the treasure chest.
"Okay, we should be safe from any potential monster attacks here."
"You girls saved my backside back there. Thank you, both of you. Roxanne, you kept
the last two monsters at bay, which allowed Sherry to treat my condition without any
interruptions. Thank you, thank you both so very much."
.
If it was not for the two of them, then I would not be able to deal with that poison at
all on my own, probably because it was my first time dealing with something like that
and I was taken by surprise. That is why the thought that I might have been poisoned
never even crossed my head and I ended up not taking the antidote, thinking that what
was happening to me was just an aftereffect of a regular attack from the NT Ant. If I
was alone in here and the same thing happened to me, then I definitely would have
been done for, that is how dangerous of a status ailment Poison is. Well, I guess this is
just one more reminder for me that the Labyrinths are truly dangerous placed that
have to be taken seriously at all times unless you want to end up dead like I would
have been if it was not for Roxanne's ability to stall the last two enemies and Sherry's
timely intervention.
"Thank you, master, but there is no need for you to thank us. After all, we only did what
was natural for loyal slaves to do: save our master al all costs!"
"Y-Yes, exactly what Miss Roxanne says!"
Roxanne puffs up her chest with pride, while Sherry turned her face away from me in
embarrassment. Honestly, I cannot blame her for doing that, not at all. I mean, she
basically had to administer the Anti Poison Medicine to with a mouth-to-mouth
method, which is a wholly different source of embarrassment than the one coming
from your regular kissing.
"But, I wanted to do it as well, and Sherry got to do this twice now."
Roxanne muttered in a quiet, barely audible voice. At first I did not know what she was
talking about, but then it clicked with me. She was talking about that one time when
Sherry was all out of MP after she fused a Copper Sword of Obstruction for me as the
very first item in her Master Smith career and I had no other choice but to feed her the
MP Recovery Medicine via mouth-to-mouth method because otherwise she might
have ended up hurting herself in her depressed state caused by the MP deficit. So if
we count that as the first time, then I guess that this really is our second time doing
something like this.
"Do you want to drink some water while we take a little break? I think we all deserve
it, so get your cups out."
"Of course!"
I take a small tub out from my backpack, and fill it with water with my "Water Wall"
Spell.
"Roxanne?"
"Yes, master?"
"I am still a bit sore from that earlier battle and I cannot move around as much as I
would want to, so can you give me some water mouth-to-mouth?"
I asked Roxanne, and she happily nodded while holding her cup of water close to her
chest.
Later, after we left the Labyrinth, I made my way to the Adventurer's Guild on my own.
The poison is all gone from my body now, my mind is crystal clear and there are no
uncomfortable feelings hindering my functioning whatsoever, so I guess that goes to
show that these Medicine Pills really do work and they are not just an advert aimed at
novice Adventurers to buy them from the Guilds in large quantities only to discover
that they are pretty lackluster, all things considered. Also, thanks to Durandal's "HP
Absorption" Skill I have fully recovered all of my lost health as well, so I was completely
healed, both in my body and my spirit. The time has come to resume my trip to prepare
us for going to Palmasque, so I warped and visited more Adventurer's Guilds in other
cities.
Today, I reached the town of Zabir.
According to what Sherry said, this town is supposed to be situated on the very border
of the Empire, and it is from here that we would be going to Palmasque next, so I went
to the Notice board in Zabir's Adventurer's Guild in order to compare ads and posters
with the notes that Sherry prepared for me.
However, nothing that was written and posted on the entire message board looked
even remotely like the letters that should spell the word "Palmasque".
"Excuse me! I want to go to Palmasque from here. Can you tell me how can I do that?"
"We go to Palmasque three times a day: In the morning, at noon and in the evening.
The price is five silver coins per person. The morning transfer has already departed,
so the next one is scheduled for noon, which means that there are still four more hours
before it becomes available."
I asked one of the Adventurers, who was stationed in a place where usually all the
other Adventurers responsible for teleportation in other Guilds were standing, and
that is what he told me in response. However, since there was no clock in the
Adventurer's Guild, it would be difficult for me to tell if there was really morning, noon
or evening and I will be in trouble if there is going to be no one outside to confirm the
time from the position of the sun for me, so seeing as there was nothing else for me to
do here, I returned back home.
And when I did that, I immediately went outside to check on the position of the sun in
the sky.
Since Quratar was more to the west than Zabir was, the sun has just barely began to
emerge from beyond the horizon here, meaning that it was definitely earlier than in
Zabir. Judging by the exact position that the sun was in, I would say that it must have
been around six o'clock in the morning here, and since the Adventurer back at Zabir's
Adventurer's Guild told me that there was four more hours until noon, it has to mean
that in Zabir it was around eight o'clock, which would make the exact time difference
between Quratar and Zabir the one of approximately two hours.
Considering that there is a time difference even between Quratar and the Imperial
City, it looks the distance between them is not that big as I have initially thought, and
also that it might be a little more to the north or the south instead of the east.
In any case, the difference of two hours means they are most probably about 30
degrees in longitude apart, which is roughly one-twelfth of the total circumference of
the planet, assuming that the planet that this world is located in has exactly the same
characteristics that earth had. As for the cost of MP that had to be expended so that I
could move from Zabir to Quratar, it was so much that the amount of my total MP has
decreased considerably.
If so much of it has been expended for the trip to a town that was on the border of the
Empire, then I have to wonder if it is going to be possible for me to travel directly
between Quratar and Palmasque at this rate, because honestly, I highly doubt it.
But in that case, what is going to happen if it runs out in the middle teleportation? Will
it go into the negative value, resulting in an even stronger mental backlash than in the
case of it simply getting to zero? But if it is going to be like that, do I want to take a risk
and do so anyway, hoping that nothing too bad is going to happen to me? No, definitely
not.
Something like that would have been too much of a gamble even for me to risk. If my
current amount of MP is not going to be enough, then it is not going to be enough, and
that is that. There is no need for me to needlessly inflict unnecessary damage upon
myself if I can just try searching for some other way if it is going to be at all possible.
"Oh, you are back already, master? Have you taken care of everything that you wanted
to do? Or perhaps you forgot something and came back to pick it up?"
Roxanne talked to me when I went back to the house while feeling more then a little
depressed and dejected.
"No, I did not forget anything, and no, unfortunately I was not able to do anything that
I wanted to do just yet, because as it turns out I have to wait for another four hours to
do it, so I just came back here to confirm exactly what time it is and wait."
"Four hours? Then I will definitely let you know when that time passes, so you can
leave that up to me, master!"
.
As expected of Roxanne's body's inner clock. It would seem that I can always depend
on it, no matter what happens, for which I am extremely grateful to her, especially
since I cannot tell the exact time anyway. That being said, I cannot have absolute
certainty if her body's internal clock is going to be the most accurate thing in the world
too, but I feel like at this point there are not too many alternative that I can use, so I
guess that is going to have to suffice for now.
After I had myself some breakfast, I decided to pay a visit to the Merchant's Guild since
I had nothing better to do while I waited for the period of four hours to pass anyway.
While I was there, I went to see Luke, my broker in the Guild, and I bought the Green
Caterpillar Skill Crystal off of him. When the purchase has been finalized, he once
again offered me to have the item appraised at the Guild's temple for a small fee, but I
have already used my "Identify" Skill on it beforehand, just like I did with my previous
purchase that I got from him, the Mermaid Skill Crystal, so I already know that this
Green Caterpillar Skill Crystal is a genuine one and not a fake, so once again, I opted
for not choosing to have it verified at the Guild's temple. Like I was saying, as long as I
have my own "Identify", I do not need to pay money to others for something that I
might as well be doing myself.
When I returned to the waiting room of the Merchant Guild from upstairs where I was
meeting with Luke, I saw a familiar face of someone who I honestly did not expect to
see here at all.
It was Gozer, the leader of the Knight Order of Hartz Duchy, who was also an
exceptionally good-looking ikemen (TL Note: ikemen means pretty boy or men). Even
though he was just sitting there in the waiting room without doing anything in
particular, he was still looking like someone taken straight out of a damn painting, and
just as usual, he was emitting this overwhelming aura of authority that made everyone
else around him look small and insignificant in comparison to him.
And did I already mention that the guy is so good-looking that it should be made
criminal? Now, I know that Roxanne and Sherry are going to be one hundred percent
faithful to me because I am their master, but I do not want neither of them to see this
guy or be in his general vicinity at all, because if they saw that there are such goodlooking guys out there, I am afraid that it might have put some strange ideas into their
heads.
I wish that my worries were baseless and nothing more than the side effect of my
constant paranoia and insecurities, but back on earth I already saw that once goodlooking buff guys start hanging around girls, they are going to cause them to alter their
way of thinking and behaviors until they will devolve to such a degree that even the
smartest, most calm and collected of girls and women would start acting like little
more than a hormone-crazed, braindead morons that are not going to be able to put
one coherent sentence together as long as such a Chad Thundercock stays next to
them, which is why I sincerely wish all the worst and every possible misery imaginable
onto every ikemen, chad and good-looking guy in existence.
I do not care that I might be worrying for no reason, or that thinking like that and
harboring such a strong resentment towards the people who look better than me is
going to make me look like a complete and utter fool. Even if I am going to be branded
as an anxious fool much in the same vein as "The people of Qi who lament the heavens"
(TL Note: The Chinese state of Qi from the beginning of the Shang Dynasty (16th c. BCE)
was apparently very small in scale, as it is rarely mentioned in ancient Chinese
documents except to say that "its affairs are not worth mentioning." It is perhaps best
known as the inspiration for the popular Chinese idiom, Qǐ rényōu tiān, literally meaning, "Qi people lament heaven" or "the people of Qi worry about
the sky"), which is said to refer to the fact that the people of Qi often talked anxiously
about the sky falling down on their heads. The idiom is used when mocking a person's
needless anxiety over an impossible, inconsequential, or inevitable matter).
I just cannot help but to worry whenever pretty guys, or any guys at all start eyeing
Roxanne and Sherry. They are my slaves and would never think to betray me, or so I
would like to think, but the history of my old world has shown us time and time again
that nothing lasts forever. Empires may fall because of a single man or women, pillars
can be toppled down by a single crack formed at their base and sages can eventually
be led astray from their path towards enlightenment, so naturally the hearts of
Roxanne and Sherry might one day end up being swayed by some hot guy, but as long
as I draw breath I will not allow that to happen.
My harem has yet to fall, the pillar of my resolve to protect my girls from any squarejawed assholes is standing firmly still and I will not allow either them or myself to be
led astray! And that is precisely why I can declare these words with pride and
conviction: Fuck the ikemen and screw the chads! As far as I am concerned, they can
just go rot in a ditch and die!
Yes, die, pretty boys and good-looking lads! Go die! Die right now, and torment us
regular and average guys with your insufferable presence no longer!
"Oh, what a coincidence. Are you here for auction as well, Michio-sama?"
Fuck. Oh great, now that is just peachy. It seems that I have been noticed by Gozer. I
just hope that it was not because of all the curses that I have been directing towards
him and all the ikemen of the world in my mind.
If at all possible, I wanted to just ignore this guy and pay him as little attention as
possible... but there is just something about Gozer's refreshing smile and the way
that he carries himself that is simply not allowing me to ignore him even if I wanted
to.
"Not really. I came here today mainly to settle a few equipment related matters."
"I see. Well, that is one the most important things for a proper Adventurer to do, so I
commend your diligence."
Yeah, except for the fact that I am not a proper Adventurer, and I do not know if I am
ever going to be one, so take those pretty praises of yours and shove it up your
pretty...
"And what about you, Lord Gozer? What brings you here, all the way to Quratar today?"
I stepped forward in order to cover Sherry and Roxanne, who were following closely
behind me. I especially wanted to cover Sherry, because I did not want to have her look
at that guy. Thankfully, it turned out that Sherry was not even interested in the guy in
the slightest, because she went away from us in order to read through a couple of
booklets that seemed to have caught her attention. She seems to be more interested
in books than in good-looking men. Good, that is very good indeed. An attitude worthy
of the highest of praises, Sherry!
"Since a large portion of the duke's work includes socializing, I was sent here by him
today in order to acquire some Gift Items."
"Gift... Item?"
Just like Gozer said, socializing is an important part of a noble's job, (or as some would
probably say, a bothersome duty that comes in as a part of their Job description) so if
he wants to give someone an item that is gong to be appropriate for someone of his
position and social standing, then it is more than likely that he will surely be acquiring
such an item through auction, because I am sure that for nobles, gifting someone
something that needs to be sufficiently rare or unique is the only way to go. Man, come
to think of it, nobles do have their own share of troubles to be dealing with, huh?
Getting rid of Labyrinths in their territories and protecting people from the monsters
is another part of the noble's job.
"May I ask what is going to be the occasion for which you have to obtain a Gift Item?"
.
"Of course you can. It is soon going to be the time for the Third Imperial Prince's
wedding, and His Highness intends to move into his own house right after the
ceremony, so I was thinking about what would be the most appropriate gift for the
newlyweds. Initially I though that perhaps an Orb of Self Destruction might be a good
present for their soon-to-be-born child? Or perhaps an Elixir would be better? And
just like that, I ended up spending quite a bit of time here thinking what to choose, but
unfortunately to no avail so far, since I have distinct trouble discerning what might be
the best possible gift for a young couple moving on to their new home."
So, this Third Prince wants to move to his own house with his bride, huh? In other
words, he does not want to eventually succeed the throne, but he would rather go fully
independent? I do not know how manageable that is going to be, but at the very least
I can respect the guy for rejecting the easy way out that has been laid before him and
instead choosing to try and conquer his destiny with his own two hands.
The Third Imperial Prince, huh? I do not personally know him, and I doubt that I ever
will, but overall he sounds like an okay kind of guy, and maybe that proves that not all
members of the royalty or nobility are complete douchebags and assholes? But
nevertheless…
"That does sound like you are in a pretty tight spot."
"It sounds like that indeed. You would not happen to be in possession of anything that
could be used as a Gift Item, would you, Michio-sama?"
"No. Unfortunately, I am not in possession of any such items."
And honestly, why would I ever be? I have no reason to be in possession of such items,
because I have my hands full providing for decent living conditions for myself and my
slaves, so it never even crossed my mind to have items that could be given to other
people as gifts.
"Well, choosing gifts takes time, and those two are not the only one that I was
considering. On that note, if you would happen to have some Clematis flowers on you,
I would gladly buy them off of you, for an appropriate compensation of course."
Clematis flowers? Quite a peculiar choice of flowers to give to the newlyweds, but
whatever, it's not like I know any better (TL Note: In the language of flowers Clematis
means mental beauty, and its symbolism is that of the beauty of ingenuity or the trait of
artifice, most likely related to its clever ability to climb around high places such as walls
as well as trellises) since I am not a florist and I do not know the symbolism of each
and every flower in the world.
"I do not know much about giving gifts to others, but if you are looking for one, then
how about a Palmasque Mirror? Sure, it might not be a much of a practical gift, but at
least it is going to look pretty nice mounted on the wall of the Prince's new house,
right?"
Sherry was the one who told me that it is a popular gift among nobles, and that is why
I suggested it to him, but the turn that the conversation took after that surprised me
greatly.
"Nobles in the east use them often from what I have heard, but here in the north, we
hardly get a chance to obtain them, since a journey to Palmasque from these territories
would be a long and difficult one."
"I see. That is understandable."
They are not using the Palmasque mirrors here because they are unable to get their
hands on them, but I am willing to bet my right arm that if only they could, then such
a thing could definitely be used as a Gift Item of the highest quality. Because, I mean,
why would it not be so? At the very least, I know that I would have done something
like that without a second thought if I was a noble or a member of royalty, and I would
have done so, then that is all the more reason for me to believe that others would have
done so as well.
"Normally there would be a chance for us to get it in the Imperial City, since they are
always used whenever there is a wedding ceremony for the important figures, but this
time we already tried that and there is not a single one left in the capital, and I am not
sure if we will be able to obtain it from Palmasque in time this time. Unless… unless
you would be able to perhaps get it from somewhere else and for a reasonable price?"
"Well… I cannot make any promises, but I can say that I might have an idea."
"Well then, if you could get it from somewhere else, then we would definitely like to
purchase it from you. If you do manage to buy it, you can deliver it straight to the
Duke's castle in Bode."
I am not sure if I can go directly to Palmasque, but I can definitely go to Zabir at the
very least, and because Zabir should be the closest town to Palmasque, then I wonder
if I will be able to acquire a Palmasque Mirror from there for a cheaper price than
usual?
Alternatively, I can always rest in Zabir to recover the MP that is going to be spent, and
then go to Palmasque.
"Okay then, I will see what I can do about it."
"Wonderful. It would seem that I am going to be in your debt once again. If you are
really going to try to obtain the Palmasque Mirror for us, then I want you to have this."
Gozer then handed me a small item that looked like an emblem with a crest etched
onto it.
"What is this?"
"The Emblem of Hartz Duchy. If you show this to the guards or servants at the castle,
the Duke and I will immediately be informed of your arrival. One word of advice
though: please make sure not to misuse it in any way, because if you do, we will be
forced to charge you with the crime of abusing the Duke's authority."
I examined the emblem, which was applied to a piece of good quality cloth, closely.
Everything about it screams that it is the property of someone belonging to the higher
echelons of society. I cannot discern if it is woven or embroidered, but regardless it
looks like something that would be especially hard to make, not to mention create a
counterfeit of.
Maybe that is actually the reason why Gozer was willing to give it to me so easily:
because he knew that even if I tried to create a copy of this emblem, then my attempts
to do so would all be for naught. At the same time, should I treat is as a sort of a letter
of introduction? Because if we are treating this thing as a letter of introduction, then
that would mean that I have received yet another letter of introduction, which makes
it a total of two letters of introduction in a very short time: one from Alan the Slave
Merchant that should allow me to do business with the Slave Merchant situated in the
Imperial City, and now this one from Gozer that is going to make it possible for me to
enter the castle in Bode, the capital of the Hartz Duchy so that I could deliver the
Palmasque Mirror after I obtain it. Hoo boi, I am definitely on a roll when it comes to
these things.
What is this, a season for handing out letters of introduction left and right? Because if
so, then why did nobody informed me of this? If I knew that I will be able to get such
sweet deals for myself, I would have prepared myself for it just a little bit more.
"I am sorry for having you wait, Gozer-sama. I had to take care of the business
transaction with another visitor first."
As I was putting the emblem back into my backpack, I heard someone calling out to
Gozer from behind me. It was Luke, the broker who I just bought the Green Caterpillar
Skill Crystal from.
"By saying "another visitor", I believe you were talking about me, right?"
I remarked half-jokingly.
"Oh, so you two know each other?"
When I turned around, Luke the Broker and Gozer both looked surprised, although
each of them for a very different reason.
.
So the person for whom Gozer was waiting here in the waiting room must have been
Luke. I guess that should not be all that surprising, since it is nothing unusual for the
nobles to take part in the auctions organized by the Merchant's Guild through the
brokers and middlemen just like the rest of us common folk do. And since he knows
Luke, then I guess that has to mean that Luke must have some connections to the Hartz
Duchy.
"I guess you can say so."
"Is that so? Then please excuse my intrusion."
Gozer then left along with his two subordinates, who were accompanying Luke. They
were also elves, and of the especially good-looking variety at that.
Damn you, pretty boys! Damn you all to hell, truly!
"*Sigh* Are all elves as good looking as these guys?"
"It would seem so."
Roxanne replied to my weary comment without any particular expression on her face
and speaking incredibly matter-of-factly. From the looks of it, it appears that she is
was not interested in them at all, which made me feel relieved. The last thing that I
want in my life is Roxanne getting NTR'ed by some pretty-looking elven fag.
"An elf and a broker, what a perfect combination."
Oh no! Sherry seems to be interested I them! What should I do? Should I start
worrying? Or maybe try to somehow persuade her that noting good will come from
her being interested in elven ikemen, or maybe I should play my Master Card and
outright forbid her to associate herself with any Elven men? For the time being, maybe
I should try asking her what exactly did she mean by the words "perfect combination."
"Perfect combination?"
"Yes, you can even say that they were made for each other. With both Elves and
brokers, you may never know what the are truly thinking under those mask-like faces
of theirs, and that is why most of the other races tend to distrust them, and I can
definitely understand why that would be, because whenever I am looking at one of
them, I always get this uneasy, unpleasant feeling that I can never put into words well
enough."
"Oh, is that so?"
"While we were still kids, everyone in my village was always telling us younglings that
Elves are not to be trusted and that we should be wary of them if we ever meet on of
their kind."
So apparently the good old fantasy trope of Dwarves not getting along with Elves much
is pretty much alive and kicking in this world as well, huh? Well, they can be on
unfriendly terms all they want for all that I care, just as long as they leave Roxanne and
Sherry alone. With that said, I am very satisfied with the fact that Sherry is as
interested in elves as she would be in a pile of a dirty, leftover snow from last year's
winter, and that seems to be not just her personal preference, but a racial thing as well.
However, the matter that is still pretty much shrouded in mystery is the question of
why she dislikes brokers and middlemen so much. Also, I wonder what she would
have done if she ever happened upon an Elven broker?
"So getting acquainted with a broker or an Elf is absolutely out of the question for you
then, Sherry?"
"No, not necessarily. Even if they are Elves and they cannot be trusted, I realize that
not every Elf out there is a bad Elf, and that it is important to get to know them first
before jumping to conclusions or making any hasty judgements."
Good, so even when it comes to such things, Sherry is trying to behave in a rational
manner, and her distrust of Elves in not something unconditional dictated by the
deeply rooted racial hatred and racism between Dwarves and Elves, so there should
not be any problems stemming from that in the future.
"All right, shall we get back home then?"
"We still have a little more than three hours to go, so I think that we can go to Vale and
still make it in time."
Roxanne told me that as I was preparing to go back home. Her internal body's clock
seems to be a really reliable thing.
Sherry making another batch of equipment, us having breakfast, meeting with Luke
for the purpose of me buying a Green Caterpillar Skill Crystal and happening upon
Gozer in the waiting room of the Merchant's Guild… have all these things took us just
around one hour? Somehow, I find it pretty difficult to believe.
Since Roxanne herself suggested it, we went to Vale's Labyrinth for a bit, and while we
were going through it, I asked Sherry about one thing that I did not understand from
my conversation with Gozer, so I was hoping that she was going to shed some light
onto that matter.
"Sherry, can you tell me what exactly is The Orb of Self Destruction?
"To put it really simply, it is an item that allows its user to perform a suicide attack."
"A suicide attack? That sounds pretty scary."
"If you use Orb of Self Destruction, you inflict massive damage to your opponent in
exchange for your own life. It is being advertised as a perfect method of self defense
when everything else fails and you do not want to simply allow monsters from the
Labyrinths to kill you without putting up a fight, but I have not heard about many
people actually using it."
"Well, I can definitely see why that would be."
After all, even if it is meant to be used as a weapon of last resort, I think we are all
going to agree that you would have to be a very special kind of insane to actually want
to use something that would wipe out all of your enemies but ended up killing you in
the process of doing so.
"and how exactly does that item work? The attack that it triggers, I mean."
"When it comes to The Orb of Self Destruction and how it works, it seems to be causing
a huge explosion that ends up obliterating the user and everything around him,
leaving only the bloodstains on the floor and walls behind."
Wow, that sounds like a pretty terrifying item, so I definitely do not want to have
anything to do with it, and even think about what would have happened if someone
were to use such a dangerous tool incorrectly or irresponsibly. Yeah, the best thing
that you can do when you come across something like that is to just leave it be and do
not touch it at all. That would be one less problem to worry about for you and everyone
in your immediate surroundings.
"Ahh, so that must have been what one of the Bandits who attacked the Slave Shop in
Vale used when master found him dead in one of those rooms on the first floor, right?
He even looked extremely similarly to what Sherry was describing when it came to
how much blood was left from him."
Roxanne remarked when she picked up on mine and Sherry's talk. Yes, she is talking
about that one guy whom I have found in one of the rooms on the first floor of Alansan's Slave Shop, the one that I have defeated by using the "Equivalent Exchange" Skill
from the repertoire of the "Bonus Spells" section of my Bonus Skills. When I used that
Skill on him, there really was nothing left of him aside from that bloody smear on the
room's walls and floor. And apparently the usage of The Orb of Destruction would have
had pretty much the same effect.
"Damn."
Of course, on that night in the Slave Shop, it was not the Bandit that used The Orb of
Self Destruction, but it was the result of me using "Equivalent Exchange", but I guess
that from the perspective of someone who was not there the entire time and did not
see it all happen, the difference between one and the other would probably be pretty
much indistinguishable. Back then, when I first saw what happened to that poor sap
when the spell got to him, I told myself that I should not be using it at all, but with how
the current situation has developed, I think that I can start employing that Spell again
and then cheat both the system and those around me by saying that said enemy used
The Orb of Self Destruction.
"Are there any restrictions or limitations concerning how The Orb of Self Destruction
can work?"
.
"Not really, but there are some curious rumors about it."
"Rumors? What kind of rumors?"
"Uhm… For example, the ones saying that adults have a one hundred percent chance
to die whenever they will end up using it, but at the same time, they strongly believe
that if a child that is three years of age or younger were to use such a destructive item,
there is a pretty high chance that the skill might not activate. The younger the child is,
the bigger the probability of the Orb of Self Destruction failing to activate, and the
effect is said to be automatically failing whenever a child that is younger than three
years old. When the effect of the Orb of Self Destruction fails to activate properly, there
will still be a powerful blast from it, but that one is going to only damage the monsters
around the caster without taking their life in return. And if the child that used this
failed Orb of Self Destruction can survive that encounter, they are going to be
guaranteed to obtain the Mage Job."
Sherry continued to explain. I heard that they had to consume some sort of medicine
during their childhood years to acquire the Mage Job. Could it be that this "medicine"
is actually The Orb of Self Destruction? And from what Roxanne told me, this is a
popular gift given to the newborn children, but honestly, there is no way that I am ever
going to consider a literal suicide bomb as a good kind of gift, neither to a newborn
baby, nor anyone else.
Also, if it causes the user to literally explode until there is nothing but a wet bloodstain
left of them, then I guess this is really just like my "Equivalent Exchange", even though
the principles on which that Skill and Orb of Self Destruction operate are a little bit
different. "Equivalent Exchange" works by exchanging your own MP with the enemy's
HP, but if I understood it correctly, then The Orb of Self Destruction works by
sacrificing all of the user's HP in order to inflict damage to everyone and everything
around them, and if I were to hazard a guess, then I would say that the amount of
damage dealt is proportional to the amount of HP that the user had at the moment of
the item's activation.